Macro at Bukit Batok Nature Park

[trident]

Hi,
Went macro shoot on 15 Nov 08 at Bukit Batok Nature Park.
Here's a few shots. All using 20D, 100mm Macro lens with 1.4TC and 36mm extension tube. The whether was cloudy and sky was a grey.
Branded Imperial. ISO800 f5.6 SS1/80

Skipper. ISO800 SS1/80 f2.8

c&c welcomed

[genes]

Is the distortion of the branded imperial wing caused by the extension tube or the angle of the butterfly?

[Simon]

Will would be nice if parts of the subject isn't cropped off. However, spot on focus, you need to take note of the OOF wingtip

[trident]

Eugene, Simon,
I think the oof at the wing tip is partly caused by the big aperture and the ET.
Don't mean to crop off the wing tip but because of the ET I can't move back, I am at the maximum focusing distant.

[Simon]

IMO, you don't really need the extension tube for butterflies except for the smaller species. It reduces light by 1 stop, could have used that to lower your aperture.

Suggest using minimum f8 for butterfly, but if you align yourself correctly, even larger aperture (lower than f5.6) is possible. Hence, I don't think it is due to neither your Aperture or your extension tube

[trident]

Simon,
You are right, don't need the ET for the butterfly.Just that after shooting a spider I spotted the butterfly and didn't have time to remove it. Just manage a few shots before it flew off.
Thanks.

[luenny]

Richard,
Nice shots. I think the nits are covered. One thing I learn about macro and ET/TC is always remove it after shooting a subject. I.e. after shooting your spiders, remove your ET. Only put it on again when you need it. These are extra stuff that you wouldn't want to carry around unnecessarily. That way, you won't forget to remove it or won't run into problems like didn't have time to remove.